If you apply the brakes while making, say, a left turn on a motorcycle, the moto…

If you apply the brakes while making, say, a left turn on a motorcycle, the motorcycle will tend to “stand up.” That is, it will tend to fight the lean you make into the turn. Why?

When you turn left, you are accelerating toward the left and your velocity is changing toward the left. This leftward acceleration requires a leftward force and that force is supplied by friction between the ground and the motorcycle’s wheels—the ground pushes the wheels toward the left. However, this leftward force on the wheels also exerts a torque (a twist) on the motorcycle about it’s own natural point of rotation—its center of mass. As the ground pushes the wheels toward the left, the motorcycle tends to begin rotating. In this rotation, the wheels begin moving toward the left and the driver’s head begins moving toward the right—the motorcycle “stands up”! Actually, if you lean far enough to the left as you turn, an opposing torque due to the upward force that the road exerts on the wheels will balance the first torque and your motorcycle will experience no net torque—it won’t stand up at all. On a high-speed turn, you must lean quite a bit to avoid the “standing up” problem, which is why motorcycle racers practically touch the ground as they turn.

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